Kaleva Travel innovated a new fund for the Baltic Sea Action Group

News / 12.01.2009

Kaleva Travel and Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG) have started a new fund for those producers and users of travel services who are concerned of the state of the Baltic Sea and the climate. The fund established today on January 13th, is called Travel Balance Fund. Donations to the fund are used for concrete projects of BSAG.

The whole travel industry, including both service producers and passengers throughout the Baltic Sea region are invited to donate to the fund. The donated funds are spent on supporting projects with the aim of reducing the damages caused by the travel industry. The goal is to find projects that are simultaneously beneficial for both the Baltic Sea and the climate. Kaleva Travel donates the original capital for the fund, and during the next three years, an amount that equals the price of the CO2 emissions produced by its own business travel.

Travel Balance Fund offers both organizations and individuals a new way to participate in climate work close to their own operating area. With donations, calculated from flight miles, actions against climate change are taken and both CO2 emissions and emissions into the Baltic Sea are reduced. At the same time different parties in the travel field get a new opportunity to network and innovate new environmental-friendly solutions.

With the Travel Balance fund those who cause adverse effects can voluntarily direct their money into balancing actions. The first target for the money is untreated poultry manure. Within the Leningrad area there are poultry farms with millions of animals. The untreated manure from these farms produces not only carbon dioxide but also methane that is significantly more dangerous to the atmosphere. In addition, the untreated poultry manure with high phosphorous content is also a considerable cause of the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. By treating the manure into bio energy for the use of the farm and the surrounding neighbourhood, a significant amount of fossil fuels can be replaced.

– All industries, including the travel industry, have to see their role both as a party burdening the environment but also as that being able to take on healing action. We were extremely happy about the visionary initiative by Kaleva Travel and especially about the open approach, with which they encourage the whole travel industry to join, thanks Ilkka Herlin the chairman of the board of the Foundation for a Living Baltic Sea.

– Everyone can donate money into the fund states Mika Kiljunen, the CEO of Kaleva Travel. – For our own corporate customers we have a readymade process to report the personnel’s flight miles. Based on the miles gathered, our customer will be provided by a readymade suggestion for a donation that the company then donates to the Travel Balance Fund governed by the Baltic Sea Action Group, continues Kiljunen.